Chapter 1624 – Autonomous Halfbeast Island
A white light flashed as Zhao Hai appeared on a transmission formation. He looked around him and saw that nothing changed. People were still walking in and out of the transmission formations. Everyone had a hopeful light on their faces.
Zhao Hai smiled as he took a step forward. At this time, a voice announced his arrival, “Senior Brother Zhao Hai is back. Senior Brother Zhao Hai is back!”
Zhao Hai turned his head towards a Severed Soul Expert by the transmission formation. In the past, people would just call him Zhao Hai or Little Hai, but now they call him Elder Brother Zhao Hai. Zhao Hai didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
Zhao Hai didn’t know how high his status in the Hundred Treasures was right now. Although he doesn’t have a very high status in the Hundred Treasures Realm, Zhao Hai was now a Guest Seat Elder in the Divergent Realm. Since the Divergent Realm was a much more powerful realm compared to the Hundred Treasures Realm, Zhao Hai’s status naturally became different.
Although Zhao Hai was still someone of the Hundred Treasures Realm, the cultivators of the Hundred Treasures Realm unconsciously elevated his status. Additionally, Zhao Hai’s strength allowed his popularity to increase in the realm. Cultivators revere strength above all. With enough strength, everyone can call you Elder Brother or even Uncle.
Seeing the Severed Soul Expert strain his throat announcing his name to everyone, Zhao Hai stared before letting out a forced smile. He really didn’t know what to say.
It has been more than a year that Zhao Hai hasn’t returned to the Hundred Treasures Realm. The people of the Hundred Treasures Realm were also worried that Zhao Hai had joined the Divergent Realm. After all, the Divergent Realm was much bigger than the Hundred Treasures Realm. Moreover, Zhao Hai was a Guest Seat Elder. Joining the Divergent Realm was a very attractive option.
Hearing that Prisonheart has pa.s.sed away, the Hundred Treasures Realm were somewhat excited. They thought that Zhao Hai would immediately return. They didn’t expect that Zhao Hai would wait a couple of days before coming back. But now that he’s back, they couldn’t help but be excited.
Zhao Hai looked at everyone with a smile. Then someone stepped forward and said, “Senior Brother, you’re back? We heard that Elder Prisonheart pa.s.sed away a few days ago.”
Asking this suddenly was quite improper, but Zhao Hai just smiled and said, “Right, Master pa.s.sed away a few days ago. However, the Divergent Realm had to perform his funeral rites and I had to partic.i.p.ate. Because of this, I ended up being delayed.”
Everyone nodded. Then one of them said, “Alright, don’t crowd the place. The Elders said that once Senior Brother comes back, you should go see him. Everyone, don’t block Senior Brother.” Hearing this, everyone immediately made way. Zhao Hai greeted everyone with a smile as he walked towards the conference hall.
Everyone looked at Zhao Hai’s back with a smile on their face. They were afraid that Zhao Hai would join the Divergent Realm and wouldn’t return. These cultivators were quite superst.i.tious. Ever since Zhao Hai joined the Hundred Treasures Realm, several problems of the realm had been solved and the realm began growing. And with Zhao Hai, they would win any battles they enter. So these cultivators had a trace of wors.h.i.+p towards Zhao Hai. They thought that Zhao Hai was the realm’s lucky star and they would definitely work hard to keep him.
Currently, the Hundred Treasures Realm’s attack on Halfbeast Island hasn’t been going very well. Although Mu Yu was personally in command, the cultivators who went to Halfbeast Island would still be ambushed by the beasts. Therefore, the cultivators hoped that Zhao Hai could go to Halfbeast Island and use his great luck to conquer the island as soon as possible.
If Zhao Hai knew that he was popular because of this, he wouldn’t know what to say nor feel. At this time, he flew to the conference hall and said, “Zhao Hai asks to see the Elders.”
Zong Ze’s voice was heard, “Little Hai, you’re back. Come in quick.” Zhao Hai proceeded to enter the conference hall.
At this time, the people inside the hall were Zong Ze and his people. Mu Yao was no longer here. Not long after returning, Mu Yao closed up and no longer took command of the realm. After the war, Mu Yao surrendered all of his control over to Zong Ze. This way, n.o.body would think that he was fighting for power.
Mu Yao made the same choice as Zhao Hai. Everything was for the stability of the Hundred Treasures Realm. They didn’t want to cause any conflict in the realm because of a misunderstanding.
There were only five Elders left in the conference hall, which made the room look empty. As soon as Zhao Hai entered, he immediately gave his greetings. Zong Ze waved his hand and said, “Come and sit. I have to tell you something.”
Zhao Hai nodded and then sat down on a nearby transforming cloud. Zong Ze looked at Zhao Hai and said, “Little Hai, you stayed in the Divergent Realm for more than a year. How much of the Hundred Treasures Realm’s matters do you know?”
Zhao Hai thought for a moment and said, “I know some. Although Halfbeast Island has been turned over to us, our situation there isn’t good. Besides this, I also know that the exchange system has been completed.”
Zong Ze smiled and said, “Just like you said, besides the exchange system, Halfbeast Island is the only important matter that the realm has. The island is quite special, it isn’t easy to deal with it. Although Little Yu is there to take command, they aren’t doing very well. The beast races still refuse to accept us. Do you have any thoughts on what we should do?”
Zhao Hai stared, he didn’t expect Zong Ze to ask for his opinion. He looked at Zong Ze who gave him a nod, giving him the permission to speak boldly.
Zhao Hai thought for a while and said, “I don’t know much about Halfbeast Island. I only know that it has monster races and these races don’t want to be ruled over. This is the reason we have a hard time. Is that correct?”
Zong Ze nodded and said, “That’s not incorrect. In general, the beast races don’t want people to govern them.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “If that is the case, then I think it’s good. Elder, I think we seem to misunderstand something. We want Halfbeast Island for the Hundred Treasures Realm but we also want to bring the beast races over, so we send people to rule over them. I think we should change our thinking. We should treat the beast races the same as how we treat our subordinate realms. This might work for us.”
Hearing Zhao Hai, Zong Ze stared for a moment before he understood what Zhao Hai said. He tapped his head as he turned his head to the other Elders and laughed, “It seems like we’ve been too hard-headed. I didn’t even think of that. Hahaha.”
Zhao Hai knew that it wasn’t because these Elders didn’t think of this point, but instead it was because they subconsciously looked down on the beast races. Because of this, they haven’t thought of treating the beast races seriously. They just want to send people to the beast races in order to rule them directly.
If they treated the beast races like normal cultivators, then they wouldn’t send people to rule them. It would be enough for the beast races to send people to support the Hundred Treasures Realm. Then there would be no need to set up an upper level management for Halfbeast Island.
The Hundred Treasures Realm can just make the beast races manage Halfbeast Island, making an autonomous government. However, this came at the condition that the beast races support the Hundred Treasures Realm during war and also offer tribute. Then the Hundred Treasures Realm wouldn’t intervene with the management of the island, just like any subordinate realm.
An Elder hesitated as he said, “What if the beast races still don’t comply? Some beast races might separate from the Hundred Treasures Realm and form their own beast group and demand to be treated equal with the Hundred Treasures Realm.”
Zhao Hai sneered and said, “To deal with such people, there’s only one method, kill! We can tell the beast races about our conditions. I reckon a lot of them will agree. Those who disagree will be in the minority. After all, the Hundred Treasures Realm is stronger than Halfbeast Island. Let them be autonomous, this will be our concession. If they still want to be equal to the Hundred Treasures Realm, then we can slaughter them. But we have to announce that it’s impossible for the beast races to be equal to the Hundred Treasures Realm. The beast races will certainly think about it. They just need to hand in resources every year. They don’t even need to listen to the Hundred Treasures Realm. I think they will make the right choice.”
Zong Ze nodded and said, “Most of the beast races actually just don’t want humans governing them. We can agree to this. But if they want to be equal to us, then they can’t blame us for being impolite.”
The other Elders nodded. Zong Ze looked at Zhao Hai and said, “You really think differently. We couldn’t understand why the beast races resisted so fiercely. It seems like this method might succeed. I will notify Little Yu immediately and ask him to use this method.”
Zhao Hai smiled faintly and said, “Actually, we can control the island slowly. I heard that Halfbeast Island isn’t very rich in resources. What’s important is its location. We can trade with the beast races in exchange for commodities. Slowly we can integrate the exchange system to the island. And once the beasts become disloyal, we can control the supplies we trade with them.”
What Zhao Hai was explaining was actually an economic invasion. However, cultivators don’t know anything about it. Because of this, they didn’t use it before. What Zong Ze and the others thought was that Zhao Hai was saying new and odd ideas.